Local Man and the Radio 4 toilet drama!

23/08/2010 @ 02:23

Gareth Mitchell sounded calm and assured last Thursday at 4.30pm when he stepped into the Radio 4 hot seat to broadcast to millions on the hugely popular ‘Material World’.

It was a late call up for the 40 year-old – stepping in for the unavailable regular host Quentin Cooper – and his preparations were almost flushed down the toilet – quite literally!

Now, as the show is repeated for all to hear tonight at 9pm, the ex-Guilsfield journalist tells mywelshpool of his big moment on the airwaves which turned out to be a memorable affair. Gareth with father Colin at Radio 4

When did you finally know you were stepping in?
The regular presenter Quentin Cooper was taking a week off the programme. I had known for some weeks of his plans to be away some time in August but I only knew for sure last Monday, three days before the actual transmission. It was plenty of time to do my homework and write a script though.

How did you feel it went?

Ask my dad! From the presenter’s point of view, you’re never sure how it’s gone. You sit behind a microphone in a studio in the heart of Broadcasting House. There are no windows and everything is soundproofed. It’s funny to think there’s a nation out there on the other end of the mic. It’s quite surreal in a way and tricky to know how it sounds on peoples’ radios. But that said; I was pleased with it. Anything can happen, interviewees in remote studios can get cut off when the line goes down, pre-recorded bits can fail to play or you can stumble over your lines. Thank goodness none of those things happened. The other trick is to get the timings right. The items are timed very precisely, so you have to find polite ways of getting guests to shut up if they’re in mid-flow. Then, at the end of the show, you have to stop talking at exactly one minute before 5pm. That has to happen right to the second and it’s tricky to get it right. Presenters who delay the news don’t get asked back! Luckily I managed to hit the ‘out time’ on the nose. Phew.

Was it your first live Radio 4 slot?
No, the is the fourth time I’ve done Material World. The previous three were all live too. It never stops being terrifying though.

Do you think it could become a regular thing?
I hope that Radio 4 still uses me as the standby presenter for Quentin and it would be nice to do more of this kind of thing. As for Material World, it’s Quentin’s show so I’ll only be considered if he has to miss an edition.

What other radio do you do?
I do have a regular BBC show. My own week-by-week gig is a technology programme called Digital Planet on BBC World Service. I’ve been doing that every week for about four years. We go around the world looking at how technology affects peoples’ lives. In the last year or so, the show has taken me to Kenya, Japan, the USA, South Africa, India, Abu Dhabi and various bits of Europe. Traditionally, World Service has gone out in the middle of the night in the UK. But these days you can hear it all day round on DAB radio or via satellite, Freeview or the internet. There’s no excuse for people in Welshpool not to listen! I’m on at 1030am on Tuesdays.

Mywelshpool heard there was some last minute toilet drama to deal with before your big show last week?

Ha ha that’s right! I had arranged to meet my Dad (Colin) in the reception of Broadcasting House so he could come and see the show. At the same time, I met our programme researcher and the space expert I was interviewing. Because of problems with the water mains serving the BBC, all the toilets were out of order. Needless to say, the three gentlemen all needed to answer their calls of nature. So, I had to march them just down the road to another BBC building where they could do their thing. It’s one of those things you don’t anticipate as a presenter – chaperoning your dad, your interviewee and one of the production team to the toilets just minutes before you go live on national radio! Thankfully, I was safely at the mic though with 10 minutes to spare, so it worked out fine.